Anger at club”s ”Bunnings-like” St Leonards plan

Andrew Mathieson
Plans to enclose two bowling greens with corrugated iron and concrete have angered St Leonards residents.
City of Greater Geelong has received an application from St Leonards Bowling Club to build an 80metre wide, sixmetre high shelter to protect bowlers from the elements.
City Hall has received five objections to the development and a petition from angry residents.
Objector Karen Dooley said the club had failed to consult residents on the plans.
Residents were concerned about the largescale development’s “visual amenity impacts”, Ms Dooley said.
She believed that the proposal contradicted a 2006 Bellarine strategic plan and a 2006 St Leonards urban design framework.
The bowling club, along Murradoc Road and McLeod and McBeth streets, is adjacent to a residential area.
“The proposal is of a secondrate design resolution providing the streetscape with unnecessary massing and a bulky appearance, which conflicts with the residential areas,” Ms Dooley said.
The proposal also failed to comply with the urban design framework aim of improving the entrance to St Leonards, she said.
“Residents, visitors and tourists approaching the township will be subjected to a Bunnings’ lookalike building made of a corrugated iron and concrete,” Ms Dooley said.
“It’s not in character with the St Leonards seaside township and it will have a negative impact on the town’s sense of place and identity.”
The club’s plans could also leave limited space for footpaths and landscaping.
Ms Dooley believed the club had not made allowances for increased car parking.
Declining memberships had motivated the proposal, she said.
St Leonards Bowling Club is privately owned, with the upgrade to enclose the greens expected to cost $700,000.
Plans for the development are on display at 131 Myers Street, Geelong.
St Leonards Bowling Club did not return the Independent’s calls for comment.